EDWARDSVILLE – Trustees approved a liquor license for the Edwardsville Parks and Recreation Department that will allow for the sale of beer out of the back window of the concession stand during upcoming league softball games.

“This is entirely a trial year. If this ends up being more trouble than it’s worth we can definitely cut it off,” said Recreation Sports Supervisor Brenton Ward.

The license is for the concession stand at the Winston Brown Recreation Complex on Schiller Avenue.

By selling beer at the games the department hopes to bring in enough revenue to allow the concession stand to break even and stay open. It is currently being subsidized by the department, he said.

They also hope to attract new teams to a league that has been getting increasingly older, Ward said. Several communities in the area — including Alton, Belleville and St. Louis — already have beer leagues.

Ward spoke at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

The league has games Tuesday through Thursday. The concession stand would start selling beer at 6 p.m. and stop at 10 p.m., or halfway through the final game.

The department plans to fence off the pavilion behind the concession stand. Beer would be sold only from the window facing the pavilion, he said.

Beer could be consumed inside the fenced in area only.

“Everybody drinks already at the games,” Ward said. “We are unable to monitor it. They buy a six-pack and chug it anyway. So what we’re trying to do with this is give them a place to buy it. Instead of going out and buying it and chugging it in the back of their car, maybe they’ll buy one or two and drink it moderately instead of slamming it and then going out and playing. So we’re actually trying to control it in another sense as well.”

Janet Stack was the lone vote against approving the liquor license. She questioned Ward about how it will be supervised “because adult males drinking beer and playing can be a very combustible activity.” Will police be relatively close by? Who will be there to supervise the league on Tuesdays and Thursdays?

Ward said that he is out at the field most of the time during the games. The police have not had to be called yet, he said. “They’re already drinking. We end up finding a bunch of different beer cans in the trash. But we haven’t had any issues yet.”

The beer will be sold in aluminum cans only, and no hard liquor will be sold. Everyone who wants to purchase beer will be carded, he said. “We wouldn’t be doing wrist bands, we wouldn’t be doing stamps. We wouldn’t be doing any of those things so people wouldn’t be able to fake it,” he said.

Ward stressed that beer will not be permitted in the dugouts or in the stands.